Kala Narayanasamy was one of five nurses who won the President’s Award.
Singapore:
A 59-year-old Indian-born nurse in Singapore received the President’s Award for Nurses for serving on the front line during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kala Narayanasamy was among five nurses who received the award, the health ministry said on Tuesday.
Each recipient received a trophy, a certificate signed by President Halimah Yacob and 10,000 SGD (7,228 USD).
Ms Narayanasamy, who is the Assistant Director of Nursing at Woodlands Health Campus, was recognized for using infection control practices she learned during the 2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak, in the current pandemic.
She used this experience to introduce workflows and standard operating procedures to convert services at Yishun Community Hospital to support COVID-19 patients.
“Everything that we have learned from SARS we can do now,” quoted Ms Narayanasamy, who cited the short time frame to put such procedures in place.
She was involved in the modernization of nursing in Singapore, with her past projects including implementing an inventory management vending machine at checkout to track item usage.
She also helped introduce the use of a streamlined wound assessment process that provides accurate wound measurements and image capture.
Both measures were implemented by the Woodlands Health Campus team at Yishun Community Hospital.
Ms Narayanasamy is currently involved in the planning of the Woodlands Health Campus, which is slated to open in 2022, drawing on nearly 40 years of experience to lead the development of nursing services for the medical division of the campus.
Pointing out her previous role as a clinical nurse educator, Ms Narayanasamy said she was passionate about preparing the next generation of nurses.
“I will always say to our nurses who come to join us, I think nursing is never going to fail to reward you,” she says.
“All these prizes and promotions and everything is named after you (on them) and just waiting for you to come and claim … your passion for what you do is always rewarded.”
The President’s Award for Nurses recognizes nurses who have demonstrated outstanding performance and sustained contributions to the delivery of patient care, education, research and administration.
Seventy-seven nurses have received the award since its introduction in 2000.
